Raiga Rackham
Introduction Raiga Rackham is a marine captain. He is the older brother of Remmy Rackham and childhood friend of Ashura D. Jin and Ashura D. Ace. He has been trained as a marine by their father, Ashura D. Merlot Carlisle, after the original Masquerade Pirates crew raided the orphanage he and Remmy lived in on Yellow Island. Appearance Raiga is a tall, well-built young adult male with medium, light brown hair and teal eyes. The right side of his face is one large scar, which he keeps hidden with bandages that tie behind his head and have long, loose ends. Despite his disfigured right side, Raiga would still be considered handsome by most people with an attraction to men, which includes good part of the female members of his own crew. His usual attire consists of a dark turquoise turtleneck shirt with sleeves rolled up above his elbows, baggy navy-colored pants, gloves and boots made of leather with a woolen inside that folds out into a rim and a standard-issue Marine Captain jacket with the word "Justice" on the back and blue shoulderpads. He is often seen sporting protection goggles over his face to protect his remaining eye or hanging from his neck and carrying his main weapon, a two-barrel rifle equipped with a bayonet. Personality Raiga is best described as an active individual, always bouncing back no matter what happens to him. He is well-liked among his crew, but relentless when it comes to dealing with pirates. In spite of his calm, collected appearance, Raiga can be quite awkward and often charges into battle headfirst if his sense of justice is on the line. He acts mainly according to his own beliefs rather than orders from his superiors, which sometimes can get him in trouble. In spite of this, and his hatred for the World Government, Raiga carries himself proudly as a Marine that will strike down any foe that challenges his own sense of justice. Even though some of his female crew members can be flirtatious at times, he mostly ignores their advances and focuses on whatever lies ahead of him. This is not to say that he is always serious, as he enjoys the company of his crew and will often indulge in games with them or drink moderately. After any important victory, Raiga usually holds a banquet for his crew aboard his ship. While he eats in fairly large amounts, he always ensures that the emphasis is put on the quality of the food served. Abilities and Powers Swordsmanship Raiga has a moderate amount of proficiency with swords and spears, which he mostly channels into the usage of his rifle's bayonet when faced with a close-combat situation. His fighting style mostly revolves around parrying and disarming rather than thrusting. He wields his rifle with his right hand while fighting in close range. Marksmanship In spite of lacking his right eye, Raiga is an accomplished marksman who changes his rifle to the left hand in order to shoot. While mostly opposed to killing his foes, he is able to take down moving targets with relative ease. This is in part due to the bayonet on his rifle serving as an aiming aid, which lets him wield the rifle almost like an extension of his arms. Hand to Hand Combat Being slightly muscular in build, Raiga can pack a punch in a fist fight. In spite of this, the blind spot on his right side makes him vulnerable to left-handed opponents and he is more comfortable fighting with his rifle instead. If disarmed, Raiga will often become disoriented and charge towards his opponent with little to no strategy. Physical Strength Raiga's physical strength is only slightly above the average Marine, as he mostly avoids hand to hand combat to begin with. It is, however, enough for him to be able to parry strikes across the entire length of his rifle and shoot one-handed, as if wielding a pistol, when necessary. Agility His dodging ability would be excellent if not for the blind spot to his right side. His footwork while wielding his rifle's bayonet as a sword is remarkable, but he isn't the fastest runner among his crew due to how his usual fighting style is mostly based on range. He is a good jumper and puts that to use mostly while dodging blows or bullets, but can be impaired by his lack of depth perception. Endurance Having had almost half of his face blown off and having been mortally wounded while he was still merely a child, Raiga has developed a good resistance to pain over the years he spent training under Vice-Admiral Carlisle. He can take a lot of punishment when it comes to blunt blows, but has limited resistance to blood loss due to the incident where he nearly died as a child. In spite of this, he will keep fighting until he can no longer retain consciousness. Weapons His main weapon is a flintlock double-barrel rifle equipped with a long bayonet. He is sometimes seen wielding pistols or sabers in the absence of his weapon of choice, but seeing as he rarely goes anywhere without it this is a rare occurrence. Devil Fruit This character hasn't consumed any Devil Fruit as of yet. Haki Can use Kenbunshoku Haki: Color of Observation to make up for his missing eye. Currently trying to hone his Busōshoku Haki: Color of Armaments under Vice-Admiral Ashura D. Merlot Carlisle's supervision. Relationships Crew When engaged in combat, he prefers to fight back-to-back with his crew rather than shout orders at them from the rear. As a result, the trust between him and his crew is greater than most other Marine Captains and he has the respect of every person aboard his ship. He is also known to hold banquets for them on special occasions or playing games and drinking together, so it can be said that he is very close to his crew and cares about every single member like family. Likewise, his crew is very friendly and loyal towards him, if only a little too liberal. Family He has a complicated relationship with his only known relative, Remmy. While the two used to be loving siblings as children, the original Masquerade Pirates' attack on their orphanage sent them both in opposite directions, thinking the other was dead. Upon first meeting Remmy, Raiga does not recognise her and the two engage in a heated argument that spirals down into a one-on-one fight aboard Raiga's ship. The battle comes to a draw, with Remmy leaving him with the statement that she has changed the ways of her crew and does not desire unnecessary conflict. In subsequent meetings, the two behave as rivals. Upon finding out about Remmy's identity, Raiga is much friendlier towards her. Although he does not agree with the path his little sister has chosen, he respects it and won't hesitate to come to her and her crew's aid if necessary. Allies/ Friends He is a friendly apprentice to Ashura D. Merlot Carlisle and good friends with his sons, Jin and Ace. He disagrees with the siblings' decision to become pirates. When the two set sail he spent a great deal of time trying to change their minds, but this was ultimately in vain. Whenever they meet he is still friendly to them and tends to overlook their actions as long as no innocent people are harmed. Enemies To anyone whom Raiga deems an enemy, he will go to great lengths to ensure they are brought to justice. This is the same whether his opponent is a Pirate, another Marine, a regular civilian or even a World Noble. While his pursuit for justice might turn out fruitless quite often due to the fact that many high-ranked Marines and World Nobles get involved, he still insists on upholding his ideals. In spite of this relentless righteousness, he notably refuses to kill his enemies unless he has no other choice left to stop their actions. Other As a child, he used to play the part of a leader for the other children in the orphanage at Yellow Island. He was one of the older boys living there and saw his position as one of responsibility. When the old Masquerade Pirates crew attacked their town, Raiga was the first to rally all the other older boys in defense of the girls and the smaller children, displaying the qualities of a natural leader among the children even though he ultimately failed to protect anyone. Raiga is generally a warm, cordial person to most people he meets. Even though his stoic appearance easily scares off others from approaching him, he is quick to demonstrate his true nature by offering his help to anyone in need no matter how small the task might be. He is known to leave astonishingly generous tips to innkeepers whenever he really enjoys the food they serve him and his crew. History As a child, Raiga grew up alongside his younger sister Remmy in an orphanage on Yellow island. They were treated mostly with disdain by the keeper of the orphanage, a worker for the World Government, who would often force the children into working for her and feed them poorly. He and Remmy had come to promise that they would one day leave the orphanage and eat lots of great food together. When he was only 10 years old, the island was attacked by the Masquerade Pirates, under their first captain Earl Compton. The keeper was killed first and, in an attempt to fend off the attack, Raiga gathered all the older boys in the orphanage and had the girls hide along with the smaller children. This attempt, as anyone would expect, did not work at all and the boys were quickly disposed of and thrown into the sea by captain Compton himself. Raiga, however, managed to barely survive his wounds and ended up washing ashore on White Mist Island, where its sole resident, a hermit, found him and tended to his wounds. After spending months in a difficult recovery, Raiga departed to join the Marines and get his revenge for all the children he couldn't protect from the pirates. He ended up under Vice-Admiral Ashura D. Merlot Carlisle's supervision, who helped him train himself into a strong and righteous Marine. During this time he also befriended his two sons, Ashura D. Jin and Ashura D. Ace, who were around his age. The brothers eventually left on their own to become pirates, and Raiga continued his rigorous training as he made his way up the ranks all the way to Captain. Character Design Remmy and Raiga were designed as a duo from the very beginning, with their childhood separation serving as the main focus of development. It was then that the idea of both going opposite ways in life appeared, eventually shaping them into the characters they are now. Their story has been in development alongside that of the characters belonging to, and with the help of, HikariCotta, the creator of the Ashura family. Major Battles 11 years prior - Raiga Rackham (and several other children) vs Earl Compton (Lost) 2 years prior - Raiga Rackham's crew vs the newly reformed Masquerade Pirates (Draw between Captains) Quotes "This world isn't just this broken place. You'll see, one day we'll get out of here and we'll travel together and eat as much delicious food as we want. I promise!!" ''-To Remmy, while the two lived in Yellow Island's orphanage'' "I let them down... I let them all die... I need to get stronger, and to defeat those damn pirates. That's the only way Remmy, and everyone else, can rest in peace..." ''-To the hermit, as he regained consciousness on White Mist Island'' "Honestly, I don't like the World Government that much. But I'll take being a Marine over being Pirate scum anytime. And I have a score to settle. Not right now, but someday." ''-To Ashura D. Carlisle, upon their first meeting'' Trivia * Raiga's name wasn't decided until well into the development stages of the story. The only sure thing was that he and his sister would have names starting with R. * His surname, Rackham, is borrowed from late 18th century pirate Calico Jack, whose real name was John Rackham. This is the captain under whom famous female pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read served, Anne Bonny being his lover. Raiga's female crew members being generally attracted to him can be seen as a reference to this. * Raiga's favorite drink is apple cider. His favorite dishes are the local delicacies from Red Island, where he trained under Ashura D. Carlisle, in no particular order. * Raiga suffers from chronically cold extremities, the reason why his gloves and boots have a woolen inside and rims. Early in his cadet days, this earned him the nickname of "Cold-feet Raiga", although that quickly ceased as he became stronger and more respected among his peers. * In spite of the way his bandages flow in the wind like a bandana, Raiga does not actually benefit from infinite ammunition. * Even though Raiga claims to despise Pirates, some of the people closest to him are either Pirate captains or crew members. While he tries to keep up appearances for the rest of the Marines, Raiga will turn a blind eye (or the place where that eye used to be) to these people, trusting that they will not harm anyone without good reason. If anyone were to break this trust, Raiga would probably snap into a permanently cold demeanor and hunt down all Pirates indiscriminately. * Raiga's birthday, April 15, is the anniversary of the Titanic's sinking. Related Articles Remmy Rackham Iris Archipelago External Links Category:Male Category:Marine Category:Marine Captain Category:Human